(Richard St John Vladimir Burton, architect, born 3 November 1933; died 29 January 2017)
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of AA Alumnus and Honorary Member Richard Burton CBE at the age of 83 on 29th January. Richard was instrumental in helping The Architectural Association's Woodland Campus, Hooke Park, become part of the AA in 2002 and then advising on its development as the campus and teaching activities grew. He studied at the AA from 1951 to 1956, and went on to co-found Ahrends Burton and Koralek (ABK) with Peter Ahrends and Paul Koralek, who he met at the AA as fellow students.
Richard was born in Kensington and lived in London for most of his life. His mother was an actress and director and his father also worked in the theatre industry. Their marriage was short and Richard spent a lot of time with his grandmother as a child, Christabel Burton. Richard attended Bryanston School in Dorset where he was able to discover his passion and talent for art and architecture. It was his mother’s new husband, Gerald Barry who suggested he attended the AA School to further his career, which he joined in 1951.
Richard began his career working for London County Council and Powell and Moya, going on to design the Princess Margaret hospital in Swindon and extensions to Brasenose College in Oxford, before founding AKB in 1961. The work of ABK exemplified the optimism of the post-war era, and Richard’s key projects included the Berkeley Library in Trinity College, Dublin, as well as the House of Trees built for the Makepeace School (now used as the Refectory building at Hooke Park). He pioneered energy efficiency projects and forefronted the design of the British Embassy in Moscow, completed in 2000. In 1984 Ahrends Burton and Koralek won the competition for a new extension to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, famously dismissed by Price Charles as a ‘monstrous carbuncle’, which lost them the project and created a long-lasting conflict between Price Charles and ABK despite shared environmental views. The National Gallery extension was commissioned to Venturi Scott-Brown.
Richard believed in the power of architecture transforming people’s lives and enriching society. For him, architecture was a real form of art. He was involved with a RIBA Energy initiative in the 70’s and worked with hospitals attempting to create buildings which would benefit the patients in recovery, often using the nature around the buildings to enhance his designs. Swindon Hospital is an example of this unique holistic design, and which became an international model for environmentally friendly buildings for healthcare. Richard was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Architects, an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and was made an Honorary Member of the AA in 2011.
Richard is survived by his wife Mireille along with their daughter and three sons. In recent years, Mireille and Richard opened to the public on Open House weekends their house in Kentish Town, which he had designed and built using materials recycled or left-over from other constructions, and Richard enjoyed the considerable interest this generated amongst neighbours, students and other visitors. A book launch and exhibition dedicated to the house were held at the AA in 2015.
